525 at The Enclave Apartments

Location: Seattle, WA

Year: 2014

Client: Wallace Properties

Architect: Baylis Architects

Photos: Mike Seidl / Wallace Creative Media / Sky-Pix

525 at The Enclave is a new mixed-use building in the Northgate neighborhood of Seattle. It includes 266 market-rate apartment units over 25,000 square feet of retail space. Rafn also constructed the tenant improvement build-out of the Total Wine store which comprised all of the buildings retail space.

The building was built with sustainability in mind and is targeting LEED Silver certification. A green roof, extensive LED lighting, electric vehicle charging stations, all contribute to the long-term sustainability of the building.

The green roof is comprised of sedums laid out in snap-together trays both on the main roof of the building but also on the L1 terrace, which saved the owner money in hoisting costs

We installed LED lighting throughout the building including in the residential units, common spaces, and in the parking garages. Although they have a higher upfront cost, they last longer, use considerably less energy, and earned a Built Smart rebate from Seattle City Light.

The project utilized extensive panelization for wood framing but what was unique on this project was the location of our panelization factory. Usually panels are made in a warehouse and trucked to a jobsite, but here our team negotiated rental of a parking lot and built our own "factory" adjacent to the project. The process allowed efficiency, flexibility, reduced delays, and time savings, all contributing to the project finishing over 2.5 months early.